Stormy Budget session ends, Lok Sabha to meet again on March 9

The first leg of Parliament’s Budget session concluded on Friday after repeated disruptions over trade issues and political protests. The Lok Sabha will reconvene on March 9 following a three-week recess for committee reviews and budget scrutiny

New Delhi: The tumultuous first leg of the Budget session, which saw heated exchanges over the India-US interim trade deal and the unpublished memoir of former army chief M M Naravane, concluded on Friday, and the House will now reassemble on March 9.

The three-week recess period will allow standing committees to examine allocations to various central ministries given in the Union Budget.

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Earlier in the day, the House was adjourned for one hour after Opposition members raised slogans demanding the resignation of Union Minister Hardeep Puri. The Opposition members were also protesting against the India-US interim trade agreement. The first part of the Budget Session began on January 28 with the address of President Droupadi Murmu to a joint sitting of the two Houses.

The Lok Sabha witnessed dramatic scenes and repeated adjournments from February 2 afternoon after the Chair disallowed Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to quote from excerpts of the memoir of Naravane relating to the India-China conflict of 2020.

The House witnessed noisy protests and dramatic scenes in the coming days, leading to the suspension of seven Congress and one CPI-M member from the House for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour, including climbing on tables of officials and throwing torn papers at the Chair.

Fearing unpleasant scenes, Speaker Om Birla requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to attend the Lok Sabha when he was to respond to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.

The Prime Minister did not speak in the House but later responded to a similar debate in the Rajya Sabha.

The Opposition also submitted a notice to move a resolution to remove Birla as Speaker.

Taking moral grounds, Birla decided not to chair House proceedings till the issue relating to his removal was settled.

The resolution seeking Birla’s removal as Speaker is likely to come before the House in the second part of the session beginning March 9.

With Gandhi insisting on speaking before the House took up debate on the Union Budget, the House saw uproarious scenes, leading to frequent adjournments.

An anguished Birla had told the House that disruptions wasted 19 hours and 13 minutes of House time till last week.

Later, participating in the debate on the Union Budget, Gandhi accused the government of failing to protect India’s interests while signing an interim trade agreement with the United States.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman countered the allegations levelled by the LoP, saying it was the previous Congress government which sold the country at the World Trade Organisation.

A Bill to amend the Industrial Relations Code, with an aim to bring legal clarity, was passed by Parliament in the first part of the session.

The Bill would help avoid any “future unwarranted complication” over the continuity of certain laws replaced by the Industrial Relations Code of 2020.

It is the first Bill to be introduced and passed by Parliament in the Budget session.

The Budget session will conclude on April 2.